The Entrepreneurs
A weekly deep dive into global business. Inspiring stories from startups to legacy brands in hospitality, design, fashion, and retail.
Latest Episodes
AKQA
Ajaz Ahmed founded the creative and design agency AKQA after dropping out of university in the mid-1990s to help brands take advantage of the burgeoning digital revolution. AKQA now has more than 2,000 employees across 21 studios around the world. This week Ahmed shares the secrets to a good campaign…
Eureka 50: John Wood
On a trekking adventure through Nepal, John Wood noticed the lack of quality children’s books and learning materials. After returning home and quitting his executive job at Microsoft, he created Room to Read, one of the fastest growing non-profits in the world. This week John shares why he ditched his…
In search of top talent
As big corporations hunt for entrepreneurial candidates with digital know-how, smaller start-ups search for experienced executives to help them scale. Executive search firm Gordon and Eden is on a mission to bridge the start-up-corporate divide. The firm’s founders Sam Gordon and Sophie Eden share their unique business model and explain…
Eureka 49: Seedrs
US entrepreneur Jeff Lynn is the co-founder and CEO of Seedrs, an equity-based crowdfunding service in London. Users can invest in start-ups on the platform – often for as little as £10 – and receive shares in return. It’s a way for start-ups to raise funds and for the little…
Making sense of the world
Jan Chipchase is the founder of Studio D Radiodurans, a consultancy that’s perhaps like none other in the world. He and his team travel to the far edges of the earth on behalf of clients to immerse themselves in difficult environments and understand human behaviour. He’s recently distilled his years…
Eureka 48: Réard
In July 1946, a French automobile engineer turned fashion designer named Louis Réard invented a revealing two-piece swimsuit called the bikini. Réard created a company and made bikinis for decades until his death in the mid-1980s, when the brand went dormant. This week on Eureka we meet Richard Emanuel, the…
Vitsœ
In the world of high-end, long-lasting and much-loved furniture brands, Vitsœ is perhaps without rival. For more than 50 years, the company has manufactured and sold furniture designed by the legendary Dieter Rams. But how do you sustain a legacy of top design, not to mention a profitable business model,…
Eureka 47: Richard Reed
Richard Reed created the drinks brand Innocent with two university friends in 1999. Years later, after growing the company into a global phenomenon worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the three friends started JamJar Investments, with the goal of backing the next generation of brilliant ideas. He’s now working with…
Suitcase
How do you launch a thriving print magazine in the digital age? Serena Guen is the founder and CEO of Suitcase Group, a multimedia brand best known for travel and fashion-inspired quarterly ‘Suitcase’ magazine. Guen launched Suitcase as a globetrotting student in 2012 and has never turned back. This week…
Eureka 46: Kwami Williams
Kwami Williams was raised in Ghana and studied aerospace engineering at MIT, where he worked with Nasa. On a trip back to his homeland he encountered the super-crop moringa. This launched him on an entrepreneurial journey that resulted in MoringaConnect, which aims to eradicate rural poverty, and a clean-beauty brand,…
